The Faculty of Public Health (FPH) Universitas Indonesia (UI) has added another distinguished Professor with the inauguration of Prof. Dr. Drs. Sutanto Priyo Hastono, M.Kes. as a Full Professor in the field of Biostatistics. The inauguration ceremony was held on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at the UI Convention Hall.
In his inaugural speech, titled “The Synergy of Biostatistics and Artificial Intelligence for Data-Driven Decision Making in Public Health”, Prof. Sutanto emphasized that data-driven decision-making is crucial in the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of public health policies.
Public health is a fundamental aspect of improving the quality of life and the well-being of a nation. In today’s digital era, challenges in the health sector have become increasingly complex, encompassing both communicable and non-communicable diseases, as well as social and environmental factors that influence population health. Therefore, data-driven decision-making plays a crucial role in planning, monitoring, and evaluating public health policies.
“One of the scientific approaches that has long been used in public health analysis is biostatistics,” said Prof. Sutanto. “This method allows for the processing and analysis of health data to identify risk factors, evaluate interventions, and model disease spread.” He continued, “However, with the rapid development of technology and the vast amount of available health data, biostatistics needs to be integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of data analysis.”
Biostatistics provides robust statistical analysis methods, whereas artificial intelligence—particularly machine learning and deep learning—has the capability to process big data and identify patterns that traditional statistical methods may not detect. By combining these two approaches, decision-making in public health can become faster, more accurate, and more evidence-based.
The synergy between biostatistics and AI can be applied in various ways, including:
- Disease Prediction and Diagnosis Modeling: AI, particularly machine learning, can develop advanced predictive models. Deep learning can assist in analyzing medical and genomic data for early detection of diseases such as cancer.
- Optimization of Healthcare Resources: AI can help in planning the allocation of medical resources by analyzing historical data and population health trends. Meanwhile, biostatistics can evaluate the effectiveness of healthcare resource distribution strategies.
- Epidemiological Modeling and Outbreak Analysis: Biostatistics allows for trend analysis in epidemiology, while AI can process large volumes of data more rapidly to predict disease spread patterns and design more effective mitigation strategies.
- Comprehensive Risk Factor Analysis: AI can analyze large-scale health data from multiple sources to identify disease risk factors in greater depth, while biostatistics provides the analytical framework to interpret AI-generated models in a scientifically valid manner.
The integration of biostatistics and artificial intelligence presents a significant opportunity to advance public health. By combining the strong methodological foundation of biostatistics with AI’s ability to process big data and uncover complex patterns, public health decision-making can become faster, more precise, and more evidence-based.
The implementation of this synergy will be highly beneficial in designing more effective, efficient, and targeted public health programs, as well as addressing increasingly complex health challenges in the future.
Prof. Sutanto earned his Bachelor’s degree in Population Geography and Demography from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in 1987. In 1993, he completed his Master’s degree in Public Health Sciences at FPH UI. Continuing at the same faculty and university, he successfully obtained his Doctorate in Public Health Sciences in 2013.
The inauguration ceremony was presided over by UI Rector, Prof. Dr. Ir. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU. In addition to Prof. Sutanto, UI also inaugurated Prof. Dr. Apipudin as a Full Professor in the Faculty of Humanities, and Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Mufti Petala Patria, M.Sc. as a Full Professor in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA).
Prof. Sutanto becomes the 19th professor inaugurated by UI in 2025, marking another milestone in UI’s commitment to academic excellence. (wrk)